


birdwatching

by inverse



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Gen, Monologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 06:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7157969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inverse/pseuds/inverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>makishima prepares to observe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	birdwatching

**Author's Note:**

> takes place roughly before senguji vs. kougami.

If it had been about a hundred years ago, not that animals weren’t already going extinct then, perhaps the average wildlife enthusiast, working tirelessly from dawn till dusk, all three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, might just, throughout their lifetime, have been able to complete a sighting of some seven hundred or so individual species of bird across the islands of Japan. The behaviour of animals in the wild was essential data to humans because of its importance in studying and preserving local ecosystems, but observers both amateur and professional would often describe such behaviour in the same breath: fascinating, revelational, magnificent.

Was pure scientific interest the only reason we watched animals? Did we wish, over and above our alleged mission to understand and classify the world that we lived in, to perhaps indulge in the fantasy that we humans, too, like every other type of living organism out there, untethered from the limits of what we called propriety, unfettered by lawlessness, could be capable of actions that were equally splendid?

Say an eagle attacks a hawk. To say that it would be nothing short of a spectacle to the avid birdwatcher would be an understatement. Such melees tend to be territorial in nature, each bird of prey fighting for survival, instinctively geared towards the protection of its species’ right to spawn the next generation. The hawk, though smaller in size, is fast and aggressive. The eagle, however, is often the one to draw first blood. It dodges until it can find a flaw in its opponent’s defence, then launches into an attack with its talons. They fight to the death. What exactly is it about this that humans find majestic when they would have decried such behaviour in themselves?

Or perhaps this hypocrisy has been a latent development in the history of mankind. As recently as two thousand years before, the Romans, continuing in the tradition of the Etruscans, pitted their own against one another for sport, and in other variations of the gladiatorial game, ordered venatores and bestiarii to engage in battle against ferocious beasts for entertainment and punishment alike. Polo had its origins as a barbaric war game in Persia. The short-lived modern iteration of the Olympic Games, which lasted for some two hundred years before the fall of the international order, was a descendant of the original games in ancient Greece, which often involved much violence and brutality, and functioned as a training ground for many Greek soldiers. In fact, one merely needs to look back on the history of civilisation to find that humans have a special talent for cruelty, strife and warmongering. As Nietzsche correctly observed, “Man is the cruelest animal.” Only when peace was disrupted and the victors’ spoils of war threatened did we begin to deny our savage nature, and argue that we should aspire to kinder standards of intercourse.

Today I have arranged for a private session of birdwatching, though without the aforementioned animals. Sightings of birds are few and far in between in this day and age of sterility. My good friend Senguji and I agree on a fair number of ideas, and today we will once again test the mettle of another fine specimen, as we have repeatedly done so before. I doubt he will rest until he finds an adversary who can truly challenge him, and I have to admit that I am more than happy to cooperate with him on this front. No one has bested him so far, and I am curious to see who finally will. A cornered animal either surrenders, or it retaliates because it has nothing to lose. That is when it poses the most danger to its hunter. That is when you can see the true resplendence of its soul. Either way, death is certain to occur, to him or to our Enforcer from the Public Safety Bureau, as is always the case with his many games of cat and mouse. I have high hopes for Kougami Shinya, but I will accept the result, whatever it may be. The outcome will surely determine the course of any further plans I decide to execute.

The game will begin soon. All things considered, I fully intend to enjoy the show.

**Author's Note:**

> inspired literally by makishima watching the game through a pair of binoculars. i also wondered if the quote from nietzsche would be too clichéd but (a) he is philosophy's grumpiest most cynical old man (b) makishima would probably respond with that line of thought with some irrefutable receipts that nietzsche was right and like, quote rousseau or schopenhauer or whoever in support, so like... you know.
> 
> if it wasn't already obvious i know jack about philosophy and found the quote by googling "quotes human nature evil".


End file.
